Recipe: hot cross(less) buns

'Cross(less)' isn't any kind of personal statement, I just can't be bothered with the decorative cross on the buns.

I used this recipe from my online friend Rachel Pattison who owns the wonderful site 'Freshly Baked'.  You can find the recipe with lots of detail here.

I was reluctant to try hot cross buns as all previous efforts have ended in failure without exception.  Failure to rise, failure to have a soft texture, failure to taste as a hot cross bun should taste.  However, seeing as I have made quite a lot of dough based things in recent years I though I would have another go and Rachel's recipes are good - easy to follow and successful.  Please do visit her site: it is a treasure chest.

I more or less followed Rachel's recipe but made half quantities and adjusted the milk to allow for the extra half egg - I wasn't going to faff around with half an egg!  The dried fruit I used was very dried (see - using up old stuff makes them frugal!) so I made some strong tea and soaked it in the tea for a while.
Also, I used Thermione and added the fruit after the dough had been kneaded to stop it (the fruit) from being torn to pieces.  It was a very soft dough but not too soft to handle.

In the name of frugality and also of weight loss I made eight buns rather than six which is quite a nice size really.

And the important bit - yes, they taste wonderful, absolutely gorgeous.  One for a snack and seven in the freezer double quick!  The nicest I have ever tasted.